KETCHIKAN — About a dozen teachers sat in a circle in a Ketchikan High School music room one recent morning, their brows furrowed as they leaned forward, clapping out complex rhythms while chanting simple addition problems during a Basic Arts Institute class.

They were in teacher Ed Littlefield’s “culture/movement” class, practicing ways to use movement and creativity in classrooms. He explained that the use of hands and feet to create the rhythms — and crossing the hands to slap the limbs on opposite sides of the body — was critical.

KETCHIKAN — Revilla Alternative School students Tristan Beach, Benjamin Catlett, Chance Henthorn and Orion Timmerman have been working on the Ketchikan Youth Initiatives youth community center downtown as part of the school’s construction class.

“I love construction,” Beach, a freshman, said.

He added that he has helped his father with smaller construction projects, and hopes to make a career of construction after he graduates.

KETCHIKAN — Photographer Heidi Poet has created an exhibit to illuminate the personal experience of mental illness through curator Jeff Fitzwater’s “La Folie Circulaire: A Journey Into Bipolar Disorder” Main Street Gallery show, which opened April 5.

Modeling in Poet’s photos are Austin Hays and Cat Hindman, both who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Poet said.

Hindman, who became a close friend of Poet’s when both had roles in the 2010 First City Players show “Cinderella,” said the exhibit is a true collaboration.

KETCHIKAN — The Tongass Historical Museum will be alive with crashing waves, misty landscapes and salty characters at the opening of its “Reflections: Paintings and Prints from the Permanent Collection” exhibit Friday.

City of Ketchikan Museums Director Michael Naab, who was painting the hardware on the exhibit’s oldest painting Wednesday afternoon in preparation to hang it, said the show is made up of all two-dimensional works.

KETCHIKAN — Four dedicated young Ketchikan musicians have been selected to receive the 2013 Sam Pitcher Memorial music scholarships.

The music scholarship fund was started following Sam’s death in 2003 at age 16, from myocarditis. He was a passionate musician who was a member of several local bands, was a co-founder of The Rubber Band rock group and attended Sitka Fine Arts Camp and Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.

KETCHIKAN — The dreary, damp climate of Ketchikan seems to have grown a flourishing crop of quilters.

Rainy Day Quilters guild vice-president Marva Otos said the organization has about 110 members, and long-time member Nancy Mitchel said there also are “tons of people” who quilt in town who aren’t members.

Rainy Day Quilters is holding its 22nd annual quilt show, “Quilting in the Rain,” Feb. 16 and 17, featuring quilts of many patterns, sizes, methods and fabrics.

Each photo has an informative caption, some with just a touch of humor. Museum Director Michael Naab said the book likely was a marketing device, and was compiled by Tobin when he worked as the company’s bookkeeper and accountant.

Naab said Tobin later went on to found the Alaska Sportsman magazine, and was its publisher for many years.